Fortville School

The first Fortville school was built in 1857 on property owned by
Peter Staats. It was a small frame building with one teacher. The
building was enlarged to five rooms in 1878, with 176 students, and
the first commission for the high school was granted in 1897. In
1912, the school was equipped to teach manual training, and in 1913
a kitchen was added and sewing and domestic science classes were
offered. By 1915, the school had eleven rooms and twelve teachers.
In 1937, part of the old school was removed to make way for a
larger, more modern facility, which would include a large gymnasium.
Because of complications caused by World War II, these improve-
ments w e r e not completed until the late 1940's.
Throughout the 1950's and 60's, all Indiana county schools were
encouraged to consolidate their resources, and so, in 1959-60,
Fortville and McCordsville schools joined to form Vernon Township
Schools. In 1964, Vernon Township joined with Mt. Comfort to
form the Mt. Vernon Community School Corporation.
Today there are four Mt. Vernon schools: two elementaries, one
middle school, and one high school. Three of the four buildings are
located in a campus setting at the intersection of SR 234 and CR 200
W. Mt. Vernon High School was completed in 1969, Mt. Vernon
Middle School in 1975, Mt. Comfort Elementary in 1976, and Mt.
Vernon Elementary in 1980. All of the schools are members of the
North Central accreditation s y s t e m .
The former Fortville High School building was torn down and a new
park-Landmark Park-was constructed at the school site in 1988.
The 1999 school population was 2,450 students, with 159 profes-
sional staff members teaching in the corporation.
Photos clockwise, from top: Fortville School in 1888; two photos of FHS
in 1981 before it was torn down; the demolition in 1981; construction of
the new schools in 1970; MVHS in 1985; and Fortville School in 1900.